Aberson pleads freedom of opinion
JAKARTA (JP): The Constitution guarantees legislators the right to criticize and express different opinions to the president's and other supreme state institutions', says a legislator accused of defaming President Soeharto.
Police questioning of a legislator for stating a different opinion violated the 1945 Constitution, Aberson Marle Sihaloho said yesterday while delivering his defense statement at the Central Jakarta District Court.
After the statement, his lawyers requested that all charges against him be dropped for lack of evidence.
Aberson, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), is accused of defaming the President in his speech at the PDI headquarters last June.
A "free forum" was held at the headquarters to protest a PDI congress in Medan last June which toppled Megawati Soekarnoputri as the party's leader and replaced her with Soerjadi.
In an earlier hearing, prosecutor Y.W. Mere requested that the court sentence Aberson to 18 months in prison.
Aberson said yesterday that, in a country which upheld people's sovereignty, legislators' could not carry out their tasks only within the confines of the House of Representatives or the People's Consultative Assembly.
"A representative of the people should be able to voice people's aspirations, and struggle for them wherever and whenever possible," Aberson said.
He then criticized the current political and legal systems which made legislators the representatives of parties rather than the people.
He said the factions in the House were organized to function only as an extension of the party leaders. He cited the mechanism which enabled party leaders to dismiss their legislators from the House as part of this organization.
"As soon as one is elected a House member, his main duty is to fully represent the people," he said.
At the end of his defense statement, Aberson said that he was hurt because the prosecutor had accused him of giving conflicting and confusing statements.
"How could justice and fact be obtained if I had kept silent and just agreed with everything in the indictment," Aberson said.
He said he was amazed that he had been called "a legislator who gave people a bad example" because he had stated facts and told the truth.
"So, what kind of legislator can be considered a fit role model for people? Should it be one who allows the country to fail to uphold people's sovereignty, democracy and freedom based on the 1945 Constitution?," he said to great cheers from court visitors.
Aberson's team of lawyers, led by Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan, said the defendant should be freed of all charges not only because of insufficient evidence, but also because he was only exercising his constitutional rights and duties. (05)